Employees’ Got Talent: The Future of Internal Mobility

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One common belief in the old skills debate is that skills like critical thinking, proactivity, and interpersonal skills are hard to teach and sometimes require innate qualities for a person to excel at. While “soft” skills are not soft and no longer a nice-to-have, the outdated idea of soft skills undervalues the amount of skills coaching required to be proficient at one’s job, and its importance in driving organizational innovation and success. Employees are expected to show adaptability and self-motivation right off the bat at work, but lack of skills training is setting unclear expectations and hindering companies’ internal mobility programs.

Don’t just mind the gap – it’s time HR acts on it

HR leaders and their employees do not agree on what their company’s internal mobility is offering. HR leaders are twice as likely as employees to say their soft skills training and internal mobility program are efficient.

Only 20% of employees believe that their company is effective at training and developing soft skills. This highlights a significant gap in workplace learning and development which hinders employees’ ability to advance or move laterally within the company.

Our latest AWI research study pulls data from a survey of 3,800 employees and 1,400 HR leaders and found that many companies were still stuck in a skills binary of soft and hard skills. The bigger and more diverse a company is, the more work HR leaders need to put in to identify, improve, and validate employees’ skills at work.

Recognition as a skills validator

It’s not enough to simply identify and train employees for these skills. HR leaders also need to continuously validate that employees are applying these skills effectively in their work. Recognition can give HR visibility into the skills their employees actually possess and thus quickly identify people with high-priority skills.

AI on the rise

As AI adoption rises and creates more demands for skills development in the workforce, it’s no doubt that complications like subjectivity, inequity, and ethics will linger. If being utilized right, this technology tool has the power to enhance productivity and efficiency, becoming a good companion for HR leaders in autonomous tasks that require little to no human subjectivity.

Understanding what AI and technology can contribute to your skills development strategy, our most recent research study helps HR leaders and managers achieve more with the technology and tools they currently have.

Ready to close the gap? Discover our recommended skills approach for your organizations in the New Skills Matrix infographic.